Monday, August 30, 2010

DETAILS for ANNA SUN VIDEO SHOOT this Tuesday 8/31 @ 6:00PM at the MOCKBEE 2260 Central Pkwy

I’m coming to the shoot! What do I wear?

In the video there will be THREE ROOMS with specific costumes for each. We’ve assigned each of you to a room. BRING what you can for your room, and if you don’t have what we’re asking for, bring something that fits another room or please CALL US 513.317.1759. **and see IMPORTANT NOTES at bottom**
...
COSTUMES
Below are costume suggestions for each room, and below that are your room assignments.

Room #1 (Moulin Rouge-ish theme)
examples: feather boas, masks, glittery apparel, tights, Halloween miscellaneous, eye patches, top hats, button-up shirts, suit-tie apparel, vests, colored makeup, face paint, red lipstick, fake eyelashes, corsets, canes, mustaches, dresses, tutus, heels, feathers in hair, big curls in hair, slicked back hair, buns. we also need STUFFED ANIMALS for a stuffed animal bar in this room.

Room #2 (Social Room)
Black and White clothes – dressy, casual, whatever – just ALL white and black/dark clothes. It can be t-shirts (no graphics please), dark/black jeans, dresses, button-up shirts, hats, purses, jewelry, shoes, etc. Anything that is black & white. If you have red lipstick please bring but wait to apply.

Room #3 (Rave Room)
Think RAVE. This room will be dimly lit with black lights. **Everyone should try to bring a LIGHTER – we will be using sparklers in this scene with each take** Costuming includes neon shirts/apparel/items, glow sticks, sequin items, fluorescent tape, glittery/sparkly items/clothes, or anything that would look sweet under a black-light. Any props/costuming that may be suitable for this room are welcomed!

PARTICIPANTS
IF you don’t see your name below, just pick a room! or CALL US 513.317.1759.

Room Assignments:
Room #1 – Sarah Mills, Katie Wood, Brad Leeds, Dani Craig, Lux Aubergine, Kent Thalman, Jessica Cornetet, Sammie Matson, Brett Opitz, Paul Fannin, Miranda Goley, Mike Heffron, Missy Lyons, Abby Plageman, Sarah Gravely, Arielle Goldberg, Allison Ventura, Carlos Murguia & Family, Gabbia Lanza, Josie Dempsey, Lynda Gerrety, Chris Groh, Lilia Walsh, Jennifer Roehm, Emma Sartini

Room #2 – Tyler Kottman, Brad Gibson, Sean Waugaman, Laura Wahler, Ben Weiner, Blythe Bartel, Katie Grace Carlson, Michael Frank, Ginny Swale, Brett Fields, Kendall Sunderhaus, Arianne Villareal, Lora Garcia, Grace Bertsch, Sarah Cunningham, Andrew Min Rogers, Emily Butterfield, Hanna Lutz, Meghan Cronin, Rohit Sudarshan, Maggie Gray, Chris Robinson, Keith Burke, Natalie Palmer, Mark Berwanger, Megan Kendall, Izzi Krombolz, Allison Muennich, Tim Hein

Room #3 –Alex Sunderhaus, Will Schultz, Keith Burke, Jessica Milavec, Ian Forsgren, Ryan Mullins, Kelly Anderson, Ben Scott, Joe Bredestege, Michelle Von Hirschberg, Maria Cecile, Maggie Ledbetter, John Vaughn Handelsman, Ben Lapps, Amy Mirlisena, Jaynell Booth, Ben Stevens, Erica Rehage, Anney Kincaid Castetter, Rachel Rawe, Samantha Brockman, Sarah Helsinger, Michael Burke, Colin Cooper

***IMPORTANT NOTES***

THERE WILL be a video-release form to sign when you enter. It just says you give us the right to feature you in our video, and you won’t sue us. =) IF YOU ARE UNDER 18, YOU MUST HAVE YOUR PARENT/GUARDIAN SIGN THE FORM. Find and print it at this link: http://www.contrastproductions.net/release.html

IMPORTANT!! Bring a drink and a light snack with you. There will be some food provided, but you WILL want more to sustain you!IF you’re bringing friends and they are not listed above, refer them to this message and have them bring whatever you’re bringing.

LATECOMERS ARRIVING PAST 7:30, feel-free to enter but stay in the check-in area until you are invited into the filming area.

PLEASE LABEL whatever you bring with your last name so we can return it to you if it’s left behind!

And…HAPPY EXTRAS – if you want to make our day, try and bring any of these items with you:
Bag of chips, 2-liters of pop, cookies, solo-cups/paper plates, napkins, extension chords, box/house fans, lamps, lighters, glow sticks, anything in your Halloween box, crack-cocaine, clamp lights, facepaint, makeup, stuffed animals.

Friday, August 20, 2010

WALK on the cover of Club Fringe!



=) we're a cover band now!

WTM will be playing at the Indianapolis Fringe Festival TONIGHT at 8pm. The stage will be on the corner of N. College and Massachusetts, near 748 Massachusetts Ave. Come out for live music, drinks, and some great indie theater.

ALSO our friends in Pones, Inc. (who are choreographing and starring in the Anna Sun music video) have a show at Indy Fringe "The Four Food Groups" showing tonight at 6pm at Comedy Sportz, 721 Massachusetts.

FINALLY there is much much to talk about - Anna Sun video filming in downtown Cincinnati at the end of August, Midpoint Music Festival in Sept, i want! i want! RELEASE in October and tour dates to follow. Come back in a few days and we will provide the skinny.

Love,

Saturday, August 7, 2010

MIXING THE ALBUM and Stubby the Hangover Cat

good evenings.

i am comfy on the olive green couch in the condo of Chris Dobbs, fantastic audio engineer, in Indianapolis. zombied-out after a long day of mixing...

what are you doing? why are you mixing? aren't the tracks already mixed? what is mixing? who is stubby the hangover cat? are some questions you might have.

just in case, cause hey i didn't know til i spent lots of time in a studio, mixing is where we take all the bagillion tracks we recorded for a song (vocals, guitars, each individual part of a drum set...) and put them together in one huge session, screw with how everything sounds, make it all fit together, make sure everything has room to breathe. recording is one thing, but mixing is where a record becomes a record. others may argue.

this weekend marks the final stretch of "i want! i want!". tracks like anna sun, the liftaway, quesadilla have been tossed around at shows for about a year now but we are finally going to be releasing a full-length disc... hopefully October (though the tracks will be done in the next couple weeks!!). it's been a long haul with so many obstacles... ask me and i'll tell you sometime... but it will at long last be out in the world for you and for us and for all very, very soon.

we're doing some re-mixing because we want you to get the same feeling from listening to the music on the record that you do hearing it live. you may have noticed our live thing develop some over the last twelve months... so we're updating a little.

and lastly... Chris' wife Erica has had the same cat for the last 17 years. her name is Stubby, she has no tail, she sits very still like a tiny gargoyle, and she sleeps in a way... for instance, in a way that i might after a night of heavy drinking...



or after 17 years of heavy being-a-tail-less-cat.

kness. face down. floor. Stubby.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

UNISEX TOUR log IV: the drive west, OH times, my dog sings

what the eff is this?? you might say.

on our way home from New York City and we stop in Donteventellme, PA to fill 'er up. walking into the shop inside the gas station is like being hugged by a caricature of Sarah Palin. the love for America is palpable and thick. there is a log-cabin-style diner that looks warm and welcoming, though adjacent to the entrance there is a fluorescent-lit gun rack which kind of cancels that out. however amidst all the Bald Eagle hats and raccoon pelts is the magnificent situation that is pictured above.

i won't say much more than this: first i noticed it was a deer. then that it was wearing a deer hunter's hat and jacket. then i realized it was clutching a bottle of wine like a newborn human child does a baby bottle. i gagged and had Mikey take that picture with his phone.

later Dolores got us lost trying to find a Burger King, but thank goodness she did. through the Avalonic mists and across the tops of ye Shiny Sedans we saw the most majestic MFing Sheraton built to look like Camelot, and i guess to withstand the assault of barbarian hordes on their way from 5-star hotels.



Thursday we played the Rumba Cafe in Columbus, though not before bidding Mikey farewell (as i mentioned earlier, his skeellls were needed in South Bend) and welcoming Ryan (of Columbus' Bonneville) back into the fold for a night. we were joined by old friends and Austin, TX natives Chris and Gentry (Chris Hawkes online), who we met at Rumba in 2009 at our first show in C-bus, as well as Columbus' own Way Yes - think Paul Simon's Graceland/if Passion Pit were repopulated by the cast of Sesame Street - and Maza Blaska - like if George Harrison got lost in the American desert and wrote a concept album about it.

Friday we came home. i have never felt more welcome in my own city. i mean i, as WALK THE MOON, have never felt quite so welcomed in by a Cincinnati audience. Baba Budan's bar/coffee shop, nestled more or less on the University's campus, was filled with people having a good time. all the musicians that played that night were fantastic and just great people - Honneycombs, my close friend Serenity Fisher, and Chris and Gentry. in a short solo set, i tipped my hat to former guitarist Nick Lerangis and did a cover of Nina Simone's "Be My Husband" before being joined by an altogether different lineup: F. Castro doppleganger/bassist Parker and talented newbies guitarist Chris and drummer Dave.

quick aside: before i had become reaquainted with them this year, the last time i knew Chris his band Winner's Circle was kicking my band's ass in the Underground Fall Brawl 2006 and the last time i encountered Dave he was ass-naked streaking across his parent's backyard in Milford sometime in high school.

anyway, we finished and everyone got down to Tactical Tabernacle, the dance band that makes everything up on the spot, every time. i got to join them on synth briefly when someone requested the Mortal Kombat theme. GET OVER HERE! ...anyone? Buehler?

we crashed in the wee hours and the next morning i made Chris and Gentry play for my parents, and then we made our dog Giuseppe sing them "Hey Jude". it was a magical time.

Chris Hawkes, Gentry's thigh, my singing dog Guiseppe